


Alfred in Whatisthisplace

by Galactic_Ink



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alice in Wonderland References, Drama, Fantasy, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5435114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galactic_Ink/pseuds/Galactic_Ink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alfred finds himself in a strange new world, but no matter how odd it is he feels right at home. That however is strange for he doesn't recall ever being there. *It's a Alice in Wonderland adventure, but also not!*FIXED PRT 1 AND 2*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One of Two

*****This is a hella long strange wonderland-not fic and I just needed a little something funny to get through some lame stuff and finals. Which I should be studying for my Astronomy final right now... - J - Welp part two will be uploaded once I write it! Hope you enjoy!*****

* * *

** Hetalia: Axis Powers **

**RusAme**

**Alfred in Whatisthisplace**

** Part One of Two **

Alfred found himself in a windowless room covered in doors. The walls and ceiling had doors of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The floor was made of pastel green and blue tiles, and a single rope hung from the ceiling. Alfred had no idea how he got there or why he was there, but strangely he didn't feel afraid. He walked around the room looking at each door and found he had no interest in them. Not even the doors shaped like cones could grab his attention, but the rope from the ceiling did. His blue eyes scanned over the rope; finding it to be made of pink and violet strands twisted together. He gave a hum as he looked it over and tapped his sneaker clad foot on the tile before finally grabbing and pulling on the rope.

The instant he did, the floor fell out from under his feet, and he let out a curse as he tumbled down. He soon landed on something hard, then felt his hoodie nearly flying off his body, as he began to slide down a tunnel. He quickly scrambled to put it into place and held it down, along with his glasses, as he found himself twisting and turning. The tunnel had bright colors coating it. It looked as if someone took paintbrushes and trailed it along the tunnel's surface, as they slid through the tunnel themselves. The colors glowed mysteriously, almost hypnotic as they swirled, dipped, and zigzagged through the passage. Alfred found himself becoming dizzy from the eyestrain the colors caused, and from the slide knocking him around. The sharp turns and twists had his body nearly going up the sides of the tunnel as he fell.

"Will this ever end," he asked aloud as he seemed to pick up speed.

As if the tunnel itself heard his question, it provided an answer. The tunnel took a sharp dip, that turned out to be a drop, and Alfred found himself free falling into someplace new. He instantly knew it was someplace with trees, because that's what slowed him down as he fell. The trees snagged and caught onto his clothing, and by the time he reached the ground his hoodie was gone, jeans ripped, and body covered in scratches. He landed on his back, and just stared up at the trees above to see his red hoodie flapping in the breeze on a branch.

"Great."

He sighed and groaned as he sat up, then got to his feet and rubbed his aching backside. He looked back up to his hoodie, seeing it wasn't coming down anytime soon, and decided to go without it.

"The weather's nice anyway," he muttered to himself.

He looked around the forest, he deemed to be the place he was in, and felt his skin get goosebumps as the breeze picked up a little. He shivered slightly, but ignored it as something familiar came to his nose.

"Pizza?"

Alfred arched a brow as he recognized the scent, and figured someone must live out in the forest. He started to follow the scent, and after an hour's time of walking through the forest that seemed to be unnatural: glowing mushrooms, whispering plants, cussing insects; Alfred finally got to the source of the smell. But with the smell there was also a lot of noise, mainly shouting. Alfred found a path, which led into a meadow that held a brick patio, a stone oven, and kitchen. Next to that was a series of tables of different colors and shapes, put together to make one long table. At this table sat six people all dressed in an array of colorful clothing, and either eating or shouting at each other.

"What the hell do you mean this pizza capricciosa is not good enough as the calzone you tomato bastard!"

"Romano it is what I said!"

"And what you said was shit!"

"Aw, can't we just eat?"

"For HEAVENS SAKE, YES!"

Alfred just stared at the scene, and noticed that two of the men at the table looked the same, the one yelling and the one that got yelled to eat. He also noticed a blonde woman amongst them, who was pouring chocolate onto her pizza before eating it. Alfred grimaced at the sight and saw that the other two men at the table, who were blonde as well, didn't bat an eye to this. Though the one with the longer hair seemed to notice something, and Alfred paled slightly at realizing that that something was him.

"MON DIEU, A GUEST!"

The yelling instantly stopped and eating ceased as this was declared, and all eyes were on Alfred.

"Come, come, come! Please sit, sit, sit!" the long hair blonde shouted as he sprang up from his seat and went to Alfred.

The honey blonde flinched at the man, but let himself be led to the table.

"Oh, my, my, my, you have come just in time!"

"I have?" Alfred asked as he was seated.

"No, you're late!" the one called Romano shouted.

"Hush, he is timely late," the long haired man stated. "Now your name?"

"Alfred, Alfred Jones…."

The instant he said this the taller man out of the group was by his side, and held out a little book. Alfred stared at him confused, but took the book and opened it to see it read:

' _Debt. 13 years. 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Linears.'_

The long haired man gasped at the book, and quickly snatched it away and tossed it over to the other side of the table.

"Lars! How dare you make Alfred pay all that money after being back for only minutes?!"

The tall blonde addressed as Lars just looked at Alfred blankly, then moved to retrieve his bankbook.

"Don't mind him. He's been counting the years ever since he let you borrow that 10 Linears to go see Queen Arthur. I think his interest rate is too high for my taste, but dear boy it's good to see you again, though you are a bit underdressed! Come have pizza! We have perfected it since you last arrived, arrived, arrived!"

Before Alfred could even blink he had a fresh hot pizza before him, which had a sign sitting in the middle of it that read: _'Eat It Damn It'_.

"Romano and Feliciano have taken good care to make the best margherita pizza just for you!"

Alfred stared at the perfectly made pizza, then to everyone else at the table. Something about all them together felt familiar, but he didn't have a clue as to why.

"Who are you people?"

The table was silent for what seemed like an eternity, but was eventually broken by the woman.

"It seems he's forgotten us."

"Hmm, it _has_ been thirteen years," Lars added.

"Hmm is correct," the long haired blonde stated. "Well, to reintroduce is always fun! I am Francis! Lars is over there, Emma is beside him, the twins are Romano and Feliciano, and the one between them is Antonio! We've been waiting to meet you as promised! Though you are timely late," Francis said.

Alfred stared at the faces around him, but still couldn't place any of them.

"Okay…So, where am I?"

"Here," Francis said happily.

"No, I mean _where_ am I? What is this place?" Alfred asked again.

"You idiot you are here at Whereami. Whatisthisplace is where you need to go!" Romano shouted then threw a block of parmesan to get his point across.

"What?" Alfred asked completely confused, and panicked as the cheese came for his head.

He ducked down, and Francis just laughed and pulled Alfred back up.

"That's it! Now let's get you going to Whatisthisplace! I bet Queen Arthur will be thrilled to see you! And I know I will be thrilled to see him. Oh mon amour, mon lapin, mon cœur, mon—"

Francis went on to continue his French rant as he twirled around the table. Though with all his wiggling about, he collided with Emma and in a puff of green smoke vanished.

"Ah, he did it again," Feliciano stated.

"Si, poor amigo is going to get an earful," Antonio said and got up to head over to the pile of clothing on the bricks.

Alfred looked over the table with wide eyes as he saw nothing of Francis but his clothing on the ground. Antonio stooped down to the pile and shuffled through it to find a frog with dazzlingly blue eyes.

"It seems I got carried away," the Frog said in Francis' voice.

Alfred could only stare as Antonio placed Francis on the table, and watched him hop over to him.

"Well, it's a good thing you're going to Whatisthisplace because now I have to go too!"

Alfred stared at the frog suspiciously then took off his glasses to rub his eyes then put them back on.

"Francis?"

"Yes Alfred?"

"Why are you a frog?"

"It seems he's forgotten," Feliciano said as Emma nodded.

"Correct, forgotten. Queen Arthur is a lovely man, but he does not trust me around women very much."

"Wonder why that is?" Romano asked rhetorically with a smirk on his face.

Francis rolled his eyes at the comment.

"So whenever a woman touches me I turn into a frog to prevent any misdeeds from occurring. I tell him he is too paranoid, but he won't listen to me; no matter what I say," Francis said with a sigh. "Now I must go to him in order for him to change me back with his kiss."

Alfred gave an "oh" to this. He honestly did not think this was real, but the more Francis stayed a frog and talked to him; the more it settled in that he was somewhere far beyond the norm.

"You best get going if you wish to get to Queen Arthur before mid-sun," Antonio said as he handed Alfred Francis' shirt. "You should wear this. If you was to run into Queen Kiku he'd surely have your body."

Alfred wide-eyed at hearing this and quickly took the shirt.

"Why would he kill me over being shirtless?"

"Kill? No, no, no, you wouldn't be killed, ridiculous! Queen Kiku never kills," Francis said.

"Si, he would have your body printed into books of his design," Antonio said, a light pink coming to his face as he seemed to recall something.

"STOP THINKING ABOUT IT YOU TOMATO BASTARD," Romano yelled, and threw a block of mozzarella at Antonio as his faced turned bright red.

Alfred could only assume that Romano had been one of Kiku's subjects in the past.

"Come, come, come, we must go," Francis urged.

Alfred nodded and put on Francis' shirt, which happened to be a bit big on him, but it was better than nothing.

"Don't forget the pizza," Emma said.

"Right! Eat it! Once you do it'll be much easier to get to Queen Arthur's, and don't worry about the Linears for the trip. Since I'm with you there's no need for money."

Alfred nodded at hearing this, and looked back at the margherita pizza that had been made for him. He honestly questioned if he really should do this, and he questioned himself even more on why he felt so comfortable with all this. Sure Francis turning into a frog was weird, but it didn't really freak him out, nothing did, which was confusing to him.

' _Maybe this place is growing on me,'_ he thought then bit his bottom lip as he grabbed a slice of the pizza.

"Only need one slice," Emma said.

Alfred gave a confused look, but followed what she said. He took a bite of the pizza cautiously and found it to be bursting with flavor. Margherita pizza was his favorite kind, but what he was eating seemed to be margherita pizza on steroids. He ended up stuffing his face with the slice and quickly went to grab another, but was stopped as he felt something strange within him. He felt a sensation of something getting big inside his stomach, and furrowed his brow as the feeling grew and grew, and he closed his eyes to concentrate on the feeling. By the time it stopped, he let out a sigh of relief, then opened his eyes to see that he was just above the canopy of the forest. His big blue eyes grew wide at seeing how high he was, and looked down to see his clothes had grown with him; then looked past that to see the table of oddities waving at him.

"Come down!" one of them shouted and he quickly moved to get down on his hands and knees.

"What, what happened to me?!"

"You grew obviously," Feliciano said with a smile as he waved a slice of pizza around.

"It won't last long though so take Francis and get going," Romano huffed out.

Alfred was still shocked by what the pizza had done to him, but was relieved at hearing it wasn't permanent.

"Let's go, go, go," Francis said happily, as he hopped over to Alfred then into his hand.

"Alright, but I don't know where to go."

"That's fine. Stand up."

Alfred did as told and stood back up to be high above the forest. He put Francis on his shoulder so it'd be easier to hear him.

"Alright, do you see the brownish green castle over there that looks sort of unfriendly," Francis asked.

Alfred scanned the horizon to see a castle made of crystals, or so it appeared, a castle made of red silk, or so it appeared, something shaped like a giant boot, and finally the greenish brown unfriendly place.

"That," Alfred asked as he pointed to the castle.

"Yes, yes, yes, that's it! Now go before it's mid-sun!"

Alfred nodded and headed in the direction he was given. It didn't take long for his giant steps to take them outside the forest, and by the time they were nearing the unfriendly looking queendom Alfred's giantness started to fade. With each step he shrunk, until he was back to his normal size with his clothes still fitting, and stood at the entrance of the queendom.

"Just stick to this road and we'll be there shortly. Queen Arthur's queendom is not as massive as others in this area of Whatisthisplace," Francis said, as he hopped up from Alfred's shoulder to his head.

"Alright….But um… why is it called a queendom and not kingdom?"

Francis moved to be in Alfred's face upside-down at hearing this.

"There is no such thing as a kingdom or king here my dear boy. You asked that when you arrived here so many years ago, I thought you would have remembered that. Everything is ruled by the Queens in their queendoms, no more, no less. Of course there have been fights amongst themselves, but luckily those ended quickly, by Queen Ludwig. You saw his castle on the way here, the boot. If it hadn't been for him, and Queen Eliza we'd probably be a pile of rubble."

"Who fought," Alfred asked intrigued by this tale.

"Queen Arthur and Queen Ivan. Funny thing is, it all started with Queen Ivan's sister, Queen Katyusha, who had lost her favorite sewing kit. Queen Arthur had been the one to have it, because he thought it was fine to take, since he found it in the forest. He fell in love with the kit and didn't want to return it, and thus Queen Ivan had to fight him for it."

"Soooo…. Who won?"

"Neither. Queen Ludwig and Queen Eliza put an end to their fight, and made Queen Arthur give back the kit, and Queen Eliza made a new kit for Queen Arthur. She had made the sewing kit for Queen Katyusha, and made a different one for Queen Arthur."

Alfred gave a sound of understanding, but on the inside he was losing his mind.

' _Who the FUCK starts a war over a sewing kit?!'_ was one of his main thoughts.

"Ah, we're here!"

Alfred snapped out his thoughts to see a giant castle sitting before him. It looked like a cottage that ate a bunch of other cottages, and was covered in ivy and creative topiaries. A gate surrounded the castle, and two guards dressed in diamond plaid armor and wielding spears stood at the entrance.

"Good mid-sun gentlemen," Francis said with a smile.

The guards looked at the frog on Alfred's head, then at Alfred.

"You seem to never stay out of trouble Francis," one of the guards asked.

"It was not my fault. I just bumped into her," Francis huffed out. "Now can we go in? Alfred is back, and I need my kiss."

The guards wide-eyed at hearing this, and leaned forward in sync to look at Alfred. The teen flinched as the men got close to him, then they smiled widely before nodding.

"Go ahead, but Queen Arthur does have a visitor at the moment."

"Not a problem. Thank you gentlemen."

They nodded their heads with gratitude, and Alfred started to walk on into the castle grounds. The topiaries up close looked like unicorns, fairies, and gnomes, from what Alfred could tell. There were more, but Alfred didn't know what they were supposed to be. When they made it to the door, Alfred pulled on the small rope that Francis instructed him to, and what sounded like a church bell ringing came from inside the house. The instant two chimes rung through the house the door opened, and a man dressed in brown slacks, a white shirt, tie, a patchwork plaid vest, and what appeared to be teddy bear ears on his head, stood before them.

"Francis, I see you're back again, and so soon."

"Yes, yes, yes. It was an honest mistake Archie. Alfred could tell you all about it," Francis said tiredly to the servant before him.

Archie chuckled at Francis then stepped aside to let him and Alfred in.

"Well Queen Arthur is having tea with Queen Ivan at the moment. I'll tell him you're here, but it still might be a bit of a wait."

"Is all fine."

With that, Archie walked off to head to where he needed to go, and Francis hopped off Alfred's head.

"Come let's follow."

"Sure dude. So, Queen Arthur and Queen Ivan are friends now huh?"

"Oh yes, part of their end of war agreement, but they really are good friends now."

Alfred hummed at hearing this and looked at all the paintings decorating the walls. Coats of arms hung everywhere, paintings of strange people in strange clothing, and various bright and dull colors covered the walls. They climbed up the flight of stairs that Archie had used, and as they made it to the landing, a boy on a flying serving tray came swooping down the stairs. Alfred barely jumped out of the way as the boy flew past him. In that quick second though Alfred had seen that the boy had light brown hair, a big smile on his face, and had a tattered cloak flapping behind him. A strange sense of familiarity came from this, déjà vu even, but Alfred brushed it away as someone came running and shouting after the boy.

"DAMN IT DYLAN! YOU WANKER, GET BACK HERE!"

An older looking boy that had brighter red hair, almost orange like in color, was chasing the smaller one. Francis just laughed at the two and continued to hop on as he said:

"Ah, the Kirkland boys are still at it. Queen Allistor is the head of the house since he is oldest, but Queen Kirkland rules the queendom. It's always the responsibility of the third child to rule when there's more than three children to a royal family. His brothers Emmet and Dylan are princesses," Francis said, as he hopped to the landing and started down the hallway to the tea room.

"I see, so there are no kings, but what about princes?"

"No, no, no. Never has there been a prince either. Mon Dieu Alfred I wish you'd get your memory back. There are only queens and princesses. The queens are the first and second child in a family of three or less, and in a family of four or more the first and third child are queens. The remaining children are princesses until they are married to be queens, a sibling dies moving them up, or they start their own queendom," Francis educated, and sighed when he finished. "Alfred, carry me. All your questions and this hopping has made me tired. The door we need is just down there by that servant's cart."

Alfred smiled at hearing this and rolled his eyes, but picked Francis up and walked to the door. He could hear muffled talking through the door, and wondered if he should even go in.

"Go on, knock."

"But Francis, I don't think—"

Francis cut Alfred off by giving a loud sigh, then jumped off Alfred to the door handle. He was able to pull the handle down and swing the door inward, then hopped down to the ground.

"Well, well, 'bout bloody time you came in," Queen Arthur huffed from his seat.

He sat in a plush chair with a teacup and saucer in hand and legs crossed. He wore brown tights, and a green and gold tunic with intricate patchwork like patterns on it. Each pattern was different from the last, but somehow made the outfit flow nicely. A sash was across his chest, and a crown of emeralds, pearls, green velvet, and gold sat upon his head of wheat blonde hair. The instant Alfred saw him his eyes went to his face, specifically his wild eyebrows.

He felt a giggle working through him, and he had to bite his inner cheek to keep it at bay, but he also felt like he'd seen them before. Before, he didn't hold back his laughter, which resulted in Arthur chasing him while his brothers laughed with him. This strange feeling of a memory from long ago didn't sit well with Alfred, but he was distracted from it as he looked over to the other royal.

Queen Ivan, he presumed, was much taller than Queen Arthur even though he was sitting down in a plush chair. He had an air of confidence and intimidation that could make the toughest guy probably give up his own kidney to the man with just one glare. He had black tights on and a tunic with the colors baby blue, white, and lavender running through it in jagged like patterns. A cream colored scarf was wrapped around his neck, and on his head of off-white hair, sat a crown of sapphires, purple alexandrite, purple velvet, and silver. The man looked stunning and Alfred knew for sure that he had to have met this man before. His heart was racing in his chest as that porcelain like face with cool violet eyes turned and looked at him. He knew there had to be some connection between him and this place he had fallen into.

"My Gods, it's really you, Alfred," Queen Arthur said in a flabbergasted tone.

Alfred tore his eyes from Queen Ivan to Queen Arthur as he said this, and found the man standing up and coming over to him.

"It is him no doubt Arthur, but he seems to have forgotten us," Francis said.

"Well it has been years since you last came here. You were just a tyke when you was here, but oh look at how you've grown," Queen Arthur stated then moved forward and hugged Alfred happily. "Well since you don't recall me I'm Queen Arthur of the Patchwork Queendom, and that is Queen Ivan of the Rock Candy Queendom."

Queen Ivan stood at being addressed, and walked up to Alfred. The teenager felt his face heat up as he looked up at Ivan, and Ivan seemed to have a faint pink come to his own.

"It is a pleasure to see you again Alfred. You used to play with me when you visited. Of course I was younger then," he said with a smile on his face. "You've grown up well I see."

"U-Uh, yeah, um I'm 19, so I'm pretty close to be an adult now."

Ivan's smile dropped a little at hearing this, but then his face lite up as he recalled something.

"That is right! In your world you age differently than we do. I am already 24, but I won't look any older for quite some time," Ivan said with a light chuckle.

Alfred wide-eyed at hearing this, and wondered then just how long Ivan's been 24.

"Oh, Alfred why don't you come over to my queendom? I am believing that my sisters with love seeing you again," Ivan said happily, and Alfred could only nod.

"I wouldn't mind."

Ivan smiled fondly at the answer then turned to Queen Arthur who just kissed Francis. The frog had been whining about wanting to change back while Queen Ivan and Alfred had been talking. Queen Arthur had finally given in and kissed the frog, and now with a puff of green smoke Francis was back, but fully naked.

"Ooo la la, it's so magnificent to be free of that mucus covered body. Oh sweet flesh. Mmm, mon amour I think we should—"

Before Francis could get another word in, Queen Arthur punched him in the stomach. The blonde man doubled over, then fell to the ground cradling his stomach.

"Sorry about him. He never changes. Now, how about I escort you both to the door, but Alfred you must promise to visit me while you're here. My brother's would also enjoy seeing you again, especially Allistor, but the man is out at the moment. You might not remember him, but you loved messing with his beard. Called him Santa, whoever that is," Queen Arthur stated fondly with a smile on his face.

As Arthur said this, Alfred felt like he was suffering through an embarrassing story from his mom to a potential boy/girlfriend back home.

"S-Sure, I'll come back soon."

"Right-o, shall we?"

Queen Arthur gestured to the door, and Alfred nodded as well as Queen Ivan. The three of them left the tea room and descended the stairs. On the way to the front door Arthur had Archie go and take care of Francis, as he passed him on the stairs. At the door, Queen Arthur bid Alfred and Queen Ivan goodbye as they climbed into Queen Ivan's carriage. Once the carriage door was shut and it was only them inside, Alfred felt extremely self-aware of their closeness and his appearance. He was still wearing Francis' black and dark red striped button up, his tattered blue jeans, and red sneakers. He was also worrying if Ivan could hear his heart beating in his chest. Never in his life had his heart been so fluttery towards another person. He snuck a glance up to Ivan, realizing the carriage was extremely silent, which made his heart beat seem even louder. What he was met with was Queen Ivan staring right at him.

The royal couldn't help it in his defense; he hadn't seen Alfred in years. The small child that had become his true friend, and always came to play with him, (even though he was quite older than Alfred at the time, but still a child), had come back. He had missed Alfred's visits when he stopped coming by. He had cried over it, embarrassingly enough, and it was during that time he realized he'd fallen in love with him. Now Alfred Jones was back in Whatisthisplace and going to his Rock Candy Queendom once more. Now was his chance to make Alfred his and his alone. How to go about it though was the question, since Alfred didn't remember their time together, which hurt to know, he'd have to figure out something.

"Um, Queen Ivan, are you okay?"

The royal snapped out his planning thoughts and looked at Alfred.

"Hmm?"

"I asked if you was alright. You, you've just been staring at me for a while is all. If it's my clothes, I'm sorry. When I got here my hoodie got taken off by a tree that I landed in, and Antonio just had me wear Francis' shirt," Alfred confessed.

Queen Ivan arched a brow at this.

"I will get you new clothes at the queendom. You will need them anyways because, even though my queendom is not too far from the other's, I always get frosted sooner and heavier than others." Alfred gave a confused look to this and Ivan let out a gasp as he knew what the problem was. "Ah, frosted, um, you called it _snow_ when you visited. Sweet snow, like sugar," Queen Ivan clarified as he thought back on the memory.

Alfred gave a noise of understanding and nodded his head as he tried to recall this event, but to no avail.

"Also you do not have to call me Queen Ivan, Alfred. You can just say Ivan, or Vanya like you used to."

Alfred smiled at hearing this, though he didn't understand why, but nodded.

"Mmm, Alfred, do you really not remember your time here?" Ivan asked with a hopeful tone to his voice.

"Sorry, I don't. I don't even know how I got here, but when I opened my eyes I was in a room that seemed familiar and I knew just how to get here. Everything seems familiar, but it's kinda vague, and things that seem like memories of this place just feel too…unreal I guess…"

"Oh, I see," the royal said a little dejected, but then brightened up as an idea came to him. "What if I tell you about everything I remember from when you came? Then maybe you will remember. It is obvious that you know things to be familiar so it is just a matter of really grasping that feeling as a memory of your youth," Ivan said, a little more excited than he'd like to admit.

He was just happy to have an idea that could possibly jog his love's memory, and he was positive that it would work. He was also positive it would also present him with the chance to confess his love.

"That sounds great! I bet if I do see more things and hear more stories it'll come back to me," Alfred said, with a smile on his face that made Ivan want to kiss it right off.

The rest of the carriage ride was filled with Ivan talking avidly of his and Alfred's adventures from his younger years. The times they played together at the Rock Candy Queendom, when Alfred taught Ivan about pranks and how they used them on Queen Kiku's family in his Queendom of Silk, and how they would spend hours talking about the stars in Ivan's world and the stars in Alfred's world. Alfred felt like he should remember most of these events, but of course there was more to be told though they didn't have the time. When the carriage entered the Rock Candy Queendom Alfred instantly felt the change. He was cold, not frostbite cold, just cold like he went out into the snow with only shorts and a long sleeve shirt on.

"Here."

Alfred looked up to see Ivan handing him a coat that was obviously his own. Alfred tried to say he didn't need it, but the more he rubbed his arms and hands the more he failed at rejecting the coat. In the end he put it on and the gloves, and he had to keep himself from blushing as he had Ivan's scent fill his nose. The coat smelled of something sweet, but also woodsy, and he couldn't deny that his heart seemed to beat louder. The carriage soon came to a stop and Queen Ivan's driver came to let them out. Ivan's castle looked to be made of crystal when Alfred was a giant, but now up close it looked more like murky glass. The rock candy was a cloudy white color though some of it was colored. Everything was covered in snow, or " _frosting"_ , as every else called it in this strange world. It looked like a winter wonderland, and Alfred loved it.

"Welcome back Queen Ivan—Oh! You have a guest," said a man dressed in deep blue pants, lavender and white tunic and white boots. The patterns on his clothing were jagged like as well, and his hair was deep brown and to his shoulders.

"Hello Toris, and this is Alfred. You remember him yes?"

The man, Toris, looked at the honey blonde bundled up in his rulers coat, and gasped as he recognized him.

"Oh my, you've grown so much!"

"Yes he has, but he doesn't remember this place anymore. I plan to fix that however. So let's get inside."

"Of course Queen Ivan," Toris said and led them inside.

Alfred followed behind them, but stopped as he saw frosting starting to fall. He pulled off a glove and reached out to touch it. The flake landed in his hand then melted slowly away. Alfred brought his hand to his mouth and licked the melted flake, and wide-eyed as he tasted it.

"Sugar," he said softly.

He could feel something nagging at the back of his mind about this familiar taste.

"Do you remember?" came a voice.

Alfred looked up to see Queen Ivan and Toris on the steps leading inside the castle.

"O-Oh, no, but I'm close… I think," Alfred said with a sheepish smile, then hurried up to the others.

"All in due time," Ivan said, as they entered the castle.

The inside of the castle was much more colorful than its outside, and very warm. The walls were still the same murky white, but the floor was a rich red-violet color that spilled throughout the castle. Pictures decorated the walls and bursts of colorful candy were everywhere. The inside of the castle smelt like sugary fruit, but it wasn't overpowering in the slightest, it was subtle, practically unnoticeable.

"Welcome to my home again, Alfred," Ivan said with a smile, and it grew wider as Alfred looked around.

The honey blonde moved over to a wall that seemed familiar, then leaned forward and touched it with his tongue. His blue eye grew wide as he tasted the candy there, then moved to the other brick of candy to taste it.

"This is grape, and that's lemonade! That's right! They all look the same, but taste different," he said as he recalled someone telling him this long ago. "If only I knew who told me that."

"I believe that was me," came a voice, and Alfred turned around to find a woman beside Ivan.

She was a little shorter than Ivan, and had a very curvy body clothed in a baby blue and lavender dress. A crown made the same fashion as Ivan's was upon her head of off-white hair as well.

"Hello Alfred, I'm Queen Katyusha, ruler of this house."

Alfred stared at the woman before him a sense of familiarity coming from her. He walked up to her, and she easily stepped forth and wrapped him up in a suffocating hug.

"I have missed you," she said happily, then pulled away as tears came to her eyes. "Ah, sorry, just been so long since I seen you. You have grown up da?"

Alfred could only nod and Katyusha and Ivan smiled at him. Alfred smiled back at the siblings, but it vanished quickly as something collided with his body. When Alfred hit the ground he winced in pain then opened his eyes to see someone hugging him.

"It appears that Natalia has missed you just as much," Katyusha said with a light laugh.

"N-Natalia?" Alfred questioned, and the person lifted their head.

She looked just like her siblings, except thin and had long hair.

"Princess Natalia, could you perhaps, let Alfred up?" came Toris' voice from behind them.

The girl sighed, but nodded, and got off of Alfred then helped him up. She then walked over to her siblings and stood beside Ivan.

"It's good to see you," Natalia said softly as she fixed her dress.

She had on a deep blue dress with jagged patterns of lighter colors printed on it. A tiara that was made of the same silver and jewels as Ivan and Katyusha's crowns sat upon her head as well. Seeing the siblings all together was unbelievably amazing, they all looked like dolls.

"It's, it's good to see you too, all of you. I have a feeling I'll get my memory back of this place," Alfred said with a sheepish grin coming to his face.

"So you have forgotten me," Natalia said with a sad tone lacing her words.

"Sort of, sorry. I feel like I've seen all of you before," Alfred said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"If it memory that you seek, perhaps Baba can help," Katyusha said.

"That's right they have the power to help unlock your mind," Ivan said as he recalled the old person.

He had forgotten that they lived deep in the forest of Areyoukiddingme that led to Righthere. Though, as he thought about it, he still wanted to try his plan of jogging Alfred's memory himself. He gave a hum as he thought this over, then snapped his fingers and stepped forward from his siblings.

"Alfred, I will accompany you to see Baba, and along the way I will try to bring your memory back as promised. Though if nothing works then Baba will surely do the trick!"

Alfred smiled at how enthusiastic Ivan had become in helping him recover his lost memories. The man seemed childlike almost.

"I'd like that, thank you Ivan," Alfred said with a brilliant smile on his face.

Ivan found himself wanting to give into his urge to kiss the smile off Alfred's face again, but forced himself to give up that idea.

"Well how about dinner then rest! The journey is a long and dangerous one to Baba's, and it is best to go by upturn-sun," Toris said, as he came up to Alfred to take the coat he wore.

The siblings agreed and the sisters went about their activities, as Ivan said he'd escort Alfred to his old room.

"I had a room here?"

"Of course! We would spend many days together. Sometimes we would have fun, and sometimes I would just comfort you. You'd come to me every time something bad happened in your world and I would do my best to cheer you up," Ivan stated, as he started the ascent of the spiral staircase to the upper floors of the house.

Alfred tried to recall these memories, not the ones from when he came to Whatisthisplace, but back in his world. He remembered things were a bit unpleasant when he was young, but that's all he could remember. Just a feeling of dread from his younger years, and then comfort as he lived out his life with his mom, well grandmother to be exact, but he called her mom no matter what. He honestly couldn't recall when he started living with her.

"Fredya, are you alright?"

Alfred snapped out of his thoughts to see Queen Ivan staring at him with concern.

"U-Um, yeah, just tried to remember those sleepovers... I didn't get anything though," he said with a weak laugh. He didn't want to worry Ivan with the dread he felt as he tried to recall those times. "Anyway, what did you call me?"

Ivan eyed Alfred for a moment then stepped off the spiral staircase as he said:

"If there is anything bothering you can tell me in confidence, and I called you Fredya. It was a nickname I made for you amongst others," he said with a soft smirk on his face.

He could recall the names he used in his language that made Alfred blush when he found out what they meant.

"And I guess Vanya is a nickname for you I came up with," Alfred inquired as they started to walk down a corridor.

"Ah, no. Vanya was given to me by my mother. Only my family have ever called me Vanya. Though I've allowed you to as well," Ivan said.

"You have parents?"

Ivan gave a strained smile at hearing this and nodded. He loved his parents, but they were just a little too embarrassing.

"Yes, thankfully they are out at the moment, but they will be happy to see you too. You seemed to have an interest in my father's beard when you was here too," Ivan said with a chuckle as he remembered those times. It was also then that he vowed to grow a beard, as he recalled how Queen Arthur had stated the same about his brother Queen Allistor.

' _A beard will surely win Alfred over,'_ he thought determinedly.

Alfred on the other hand was embarrassed by this, but didn't say anything. He really questioned his younger self now. Ever since he arrived in this strange world he felt so at home and so lost all at once. The more he met others that told them he was "timely late" and "missed", the more he wanted to know why he couldn't remember his time here.

"Here we go, your room is right next to mine. We've left everything as it was, but we have cleaned it to keep it ready for you when you returned," Ivan said with a smile and opened the carved brown candy door.

Inside the room the floor was made of warm brown candy with a large colorful rug that sat on top of it. A bed rested on the rug and against the wall that was made of the same brown candy. The bedding on it was quilt-like and fluffy. The room was covered in toys and a bookcase held tons of books, which caught Alfred's eye. He found a copy of _Where the Wild Things Are_ resting there, and he could recall having lost this book when he was young. It'd had been a favorite of his back then.

' _No way.'_

He opened the cover to see his name written on the inside in crayon, and he looked up and around the room again. He noticed toys he'd thought he lost when he started living with his grandmother, as well as toys he didn't recognize. On the ceiling stars were painted above and they spilled down to the walls in stripes. Gold and silver stars in rows of blue and white alternatively going around the room. A desk sat near the only window in the room, which was large, and there were a total of four doors in the room. It was the biggest bedroom he'd ever seen in his life, and it blew his mind that it had been his.

"You used to bring books and things when you came here," Ivan said as he saw Alfred set the book down, then pick up a Hot Wheels car.

Alfred marveled at the old car that had been his favorite, then set it down to move to one of the doors in the room. The first door he opened was a closet that had only a pair of pajamas and a few outfits, which he held up and it looked as if a six year old could fit in them. He set them down and moved to the next door, opening it to find a spacious bathroom. The third door was the main door of the room, and the fourth was a passageway. Alfred just stared at it, the door was only up to his knees, and in order for him to get through the passage he would have to crawl at an angle. Even so, he knew what laid beyond the passage lined with glowing paint.

"Your bedroom is on the other side, isn't it?" Alfred inquired.

Ivan smiled at hearing this and nodded.

"You asked me to make it for you so you wouldn't have to leave your room in the night to come see me. You seemed to be scared of your dreams quite often then."

Alfred gave a hum to this and closed the door, then leaned back to sit on the floor. He then waved Ivan over and the man sat down with him.

"So, I've sort of lived with you when I was younger?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me what it was like?"

Ivan smiled softly at hearing this and picked up a toy car that laid on the floor.

"Hhhmmm, where to begin…"

Queen Ivan told Alfred of some of the many adventures they had together. Playing games within the queendom, going to other queendoms for business and also play, spending nights talking about nothing to get Alfred's mind off his nightmares, sneaking out at night to see the stars, reading and telling stories to each other, sleeping together, and finding a stray lat, which Alfred had named Teddy.

"A lat?" Alfred asked with a slight blush still on his face after being told of how he and Ivan slept together.

"Yes, it's a gentle creature we have as a pet in this world. You said it was called a cat where you came from. We still have her too. She has her own room within the castle, which I can take you to later if you wish," Ivan suggested with a soft smile that made Alfred's heart race.

"That would be awesome."

Ivan's smile grew at hearing this, and as he watched Alfred smile at him he deemed it right to tell the other his feelings. Alfred was so radiant and happy, that Ivan couldn't help but want to spill his feelings to the other.

"Alfred, I need to tell you something," Queen Ivan said smoothly.

"What is it?" Alfred asked as he looked at the other.

Ivan seemed to have taken on a confident, but also shy kind of demeanor. He reached out and took Alfred's hands in his own, and Alfred instantly felt his heart stop then start up at full speed at the touch. Ivan had his head down a little, his bangs getting in the way of his eyes, but it only added in his attractiveness. He let out a breath then brought his head up as he started:

"Alfred, ever since I met you…I've—"

Three knocks sounded on the door, effectively cutting Ivan off. The royal huffed at the interruption and called out to whoever it was.

"Ah, s-sorry Queen Ivan for disturbing you, but dinner is ready," came a voice Alfred hadn't heard.

In the doorway, stood a boy that looked thirteen with shaggy light brown hair and wearing the same outfit as Toris.

"Ah, thank you Ravis," Ivan said, completely forgetting that dinner was being made. "Come Alfred, we can't keep everyone waiting."

Ivan let go of Alfred's hands and stood, then reached down and pulled Alfred up as well. He kept his hand with Alfred's however after pulling him to his feet, and started to lead the way out of the room and to the dining hall. Ravis followed behind, and Alfred looked over to him to see him staring at him.

"Let me guess, you remember me?"

Ravis nodded his head to the question.

"Yes, I was only a little kid when we met but I remember you. I know you don't recall much of anything now, but that's okay. Just new memories to make yes?"

Alfred smiled at hearing this and gave a nod to it.

"Yeah, new memories."

"New memories are always good," Ivan commented as he squeezed Alfred's hand reassuringly.

Alfred just agreed with a nod, and soon found himself walking through a giant open door to step into a dining room. He could already see Ivan's sisters seated, as well a few others that seemed to be all dressed like Toris and Ravis, and two chairs left empty.

"Mother and Father will not be joining us tonight. The frosting has stalled them, so they're staying with Queen Eliza and her husbands Queen Gilbert and Queen Roderich. They said they will be back by upturn-sun," Queen Katyusha stated from her place at the head of the table.

"Very well," Ivan said, then moved Alfred to the table.

"I see you haven't had a chance to change," Natalia said, as Alfred sat across from her while Ivan sat beside him.

"O-Oh, I forgot, just got wrapped up in the room and stuff," Alfred said with a light chuckle.

"Don't worry, Toris has already ordered you clothing," Ivan said simply.

"Oh, thanks," Alfred said to Ivan and Toris.

Ivan nodded as did Toris, and once the final glass was filled Katyusha deemed it time to eat. Ivan helped Alfred build his plate of things that he remembered Alfred loving to eat when he visited. It was also then that he, and anyone for that matter, got to answer any questions Alfred had and reintroduce themselves.

By the end of the dinner Alfred had come to learn, or relearn for all he knew, that the servants weren't servants. Servants were just a title for those who worked within the castle, and they lived within it if they wanted to. It was just your normal 5 to 9 job in Alfred's world, but of course here the time was different. Alfred also came to re-know Queen Ivan's parents through stories, and learning that the parents of royal families always stepped down for their children and (if they have them) children's spouses when they deem it right. The children have to pass a test of the highest caliber, which is traveling to Baba's home alone and then coming back with a piece of paper that held their words on what they thought of the child. It was then that Ivan told Alfred that the trip will be indeed dangerous, and they'll have to be quite cautious when they head out.

There had also been lively chatter of past moments of Alfred and Ivan running about the castle, and stories of how Alfred used to have Teddy in his clothes whenever he visited. Lats in Whatisthisplace are born very small, small enough to fit in a teacup and still have room to stretch, and come in a wide range of colors. When Alfred had found a stray lat, it had been injured and left behind, but he was a hero (self-proclaimed) and healed the lat with Ivan's help. The lat had grown of course since Alfred had left, and once dinner was over a few of the servants had left then returned with Teddy. Alfred stared in awe as the lat came into view. The lat was like a giant lion with a mane of soft blue hair and a body of sunny yellow hair, which was striped with soft blue. She was as tall as three Alfreds stacked onto each other's shoulders, but still slender and graceful in movements. Once she saw Alfred and got a whiff of him, she lost her grace and pounced on him. Alfred was effectively trapped under the big lat that licked his face and had a smile on its face.

"Teddy chill! Chill!" Alfred blabbered out, as he tried to calm the excited beast.

Teddy did as told and sat back still smiling, as her tail whipped through the air. Alfred sat up as his laughter bubbled out of him, and he got to his feet as Ivan offered his hand.

"She has missed you greatly."

"I can tell," Alfred laughed out, and wiped the slobber off his face. "It's nice to see you Teddy. I can see that naming you that was a good choice."

Teddy just smiled brightly and looked ready to attack Alfred all over again. Lats not only are smart creatures, but they also smile just like a person.

"How about we take a bath then go to bed like old times?" Ivan suggested.

Alfred had a slight pink to his face, as he recalled how Ivan told him they used to sleep together.

"Let's do it," Alfred said with a grin on his face, but then blushed darker as he realized how wrong that sounded. "I mean, not _that_ , but the _bath_! I mean not _in_ the bath just—let's just go," Alfred finally said giving a sigh.

Queen Ivan laughed lightly at Alfred's franticness, but agreed and took his hand once more. He knew he was being sort of bold with his suggestion and actions, but he couldn't help but want to be near and touching the blonde.

"Come now Teddy, you too," Ivan said.

Teddy happily got to her feet and started to follow the pair through the house. They took the wider staircase instead of the spiral so Teddy could follow with ease. Once in the room, Alfred and Ivan picked up the old toys and put them in Alfred's trunk at the foot of the bed, and let Teddy curl up there.

"You can go into the bathroom. I'll get us nightclothes," Ivan said."

Alfred agreed and went into the bathroom, which he used privately while he still had the chance. He was thankful that the bathroom looked like any other one and nothing bizarre that would result in an embarrassing outcome. The room was made of warm colored candy, dark browns, soft yellows, purples, and greens, and a large window took up a wall. The bathtub was built into the floor and sat right in front of the window. Alfred could see the part of the large queendom outside it. The homes were lit up with soft yellow lights and had smoke coming out of the chimneys. Everything was covered in frosting and it was just a magnificent view.

"Fredya?"

Alfred turned from the window to see Ivan carrying bath supplies and clothes.

"The view is pretty awesome Ivan."

"I see you still use that word a lot, 'awesome'. Queen Gilbert hasn't stopped using it once since you brought it here," Ivan said tiredly, and Alfred just gave a sheepish grin. "Well you can strip while I get the bath started."

Alfred bit his lip at hearing this, but knew it was inevitable. Of course he could say no, but having this opportunity to be close and naked with Ivan, was not something he wanted to pass up. There was just something about Ivan that he couldn't get enough of, and he had to admit to himself he was falling in deep. He didn't realize how deep, until Ivan removed his clothing without a care and got into the tub loaded with bubbles. The man was perfectly built with only a few scars here and there on his body, which Alfred guessed was from the Sewing Kit War (thought that up himself). Alfred could only swear internally at the sight, and he felt like he could just die without regrets after seeing Ivan.

"Are you going to come in?" Ivan asked with a questioning look.

"O-Oh…"

Alfred suddenly became self-conscious of himself, and wondered if he could keep his clothes on in the bath.

"Alfred I've seen you naked when we were younger; so do not be shy."

"I'm not shy! I'm just… Screw you," Alfred huffed out, and quickly got out of his clothes.

He fought with getting Francis' shirt off, then nearly fell over trying to remove his pants more aggressively than necessary. His socks and shoes fell off with ease though and then he strutted into the bath. The whole scene was extremely hilarious, and Ivan couldn't help but laugh as Alfred finally got into the water. The honey blonde's confidence faltered a little, but he just huffed and flung a wad of bubbles at Ivan.

"Ah, do not be angry Fredya, I just find it funny how cute you are," Ivan stated.

Alfred had been adorable in his furious stripping, but he also looked extremely attractive. Seeing Alfred naked as he was, definitely proved that he was no longer the small boy he once was.

"I'm not cute," Alfred muttered then sunk lower into the bath, "and why is there so many bubbles?"

"Do you not like them anymore? I made sure there was plenty because used to love them when you visited," Ivan stated.

"I'm not a kid anymore dude," Alfred sighed out as he crossed his arms.

Ivan just smiled and took a wad of bubbles and put it on Alfred's head. As he did this he thought of it being a crown, and he stopped shaping it as such as he recalled that he had been confessing to Alfred when Ravis had interrupted.

' _Maybe that wasn't the right moment after all…'_

"What are you doing," Alfred asked.

"Oh, I'm making a crown. I just remembered that you said you wanted to be my queen when you was younger and I was still a queen-in-training."

What Ivan said was not that much of a lie, Alfred had wanted to be a queen and rule beside Ivan, but not marriage wise. Alfred wanted his own queendom and be best friends with Ivan, but Ivan wasn't going to tell Alfred that.

"You lie! I'd rather have my own queendom," Alfred stated.

Ivan just laughed lightly as he made the crown then pulled away.

"Queen Alfred. It sounds nice," Ivan said.

"Overlord Alfred sounds nice too," Alfred teased and Ivan just scoffed and smashed the bubble crown into Alfred's hair.

Alfred laughed at the action and took up more bubbles and smashed it into Ivan's face. The man ended up having a beard of bubbles, and Alfred realized that Ivan would ungodly sexy with an actual beard. When Ivan wiped the fake beard away, he mentioned how he planned on growing his own. Alfred had to play off the news like it was a good idea, though internally he was losing his mind at the imagery.

The rest of their bath was mostly uneventful. They talked about the past more, though Alfred still couldn't place most of anything. When Ivan deemed it time to get out they dried off and dressed quickly; both wearing pajamas, although Alfred was borrowing a set of Ivan's.

They left the room and saw Teddy sprawled out on the floor sleeping already. Alfred petted Teddy goodnight, which made her long tail wag lightly.

"Wish lats existed in my world," Alfred muttered, then straighten up and looked to the bed.

Ivan was already under the covers and had turned out the lamp beside him. Alfred bit his lip at seeing him there and slowly made his way over.

' _It's okay Jones, it's okay, just sleeping with a friend. A very hot childhood friend. So very hot.'_

"Fredya do you plan to stand and sleep?"

Alfred let out a nervous laugh at hearing this and got into the bed.

"Good night Ivan," Alfred said quickly as he took off his glasses and placed them on the bedside table, then turned off his lamp.

He hunkered down on the far edge of the bed, but he didn't stay there long. He felt two arms wrap around him then pull him over to the middle of the large bed.

"You do not need to sleep so far Fredya. You could fall off," Ivan stated with a childish smile.

Alfred just felt his face heat upm and hoped to high heaven another part of him didn't react to Ivan.

"Yeah, but shouldn't we not sleep so close? I mean I've been known to be a wild sleeper so you might get kicked in the face."

Ivan laughed at hearing this and let Alfred go. The honey blonde stayed where he was, however he turned over to see Ivan laughing in the dark. For some reason he found it hard to look away from him.

"You still do that?" Ivan asked as he tried to calm himself. "I remember you did kick me in the face once. I still don't understand how you got upside-down like that in your sleep," Ivan said as he wiped away a tear.

"Shut up! It's not my fault. Now if you excuse me I'm going to sleep," Alfred huffed out as he rolled back over to put his back to Ivan.

Ivan just chuckled lightly, then gave a deep breath as he laid in bed. There was a good size gap still between them, but Ivan reached his hand over to take Alfred's hand. Alfred tensed at the touch, but relaxed once he realized that Ivan was just, and _only_ , going to hold his hand.

"I really have missed you Fredya. I promise to get you your memories."

Alfred didn't say anything for the longest time, and he wondered just why Ivan was so set on his memories. For himself he knew he'd like to remember everyone and everything that happened to him during his time here. But for Ivan it seemed like they were just a bit more important to him. A silly little word came through Alfred's head as he thought about this, and he instantly tossed it out. The idea of _that_ word being the cause of Ivan's interest seemed so outlandish, so unbelievable, so… fitting. So, damn, fitting. It was then that Alfred remembered that Ivan had wanted to tell him something that seemed important before dinner. He wondered if he should ask Ivan about that, and after a while of debating this he finally settled on an answer.

"Ivan, um, you know before Ravis got us for dinner, what was it you was trying to say?"

Alfred waited for an answer, but nothing came.

"Ivan?"

The royal had nothing to say and Alfred rolled over to see him fast asleep.

"Great."

Alfred let out a sigh and looked up at Ivan for a moment. The man looked peaceful in his sleep and his bangs seemed to tickle his nose. Every so often Ivan wiggled his nose to get the hair out of the way, and Alfred had to fight back a laugh at the sight. For a man that looks like he could intimidate anyone in the world he was extremely caring and playful. Alfred groaned internally as he realized how much he was staring at Ivan, and buried his face into his pillow. He eventually brought his head back up, then let out a yawn as he started to feel sleep tugging at him.

"Good night, Vanya," Alfred whispered as he finally fell into sleep.

Little did he know, that the grip on his hand tightened as a subtle smile came to Ivan's face.

* * *

***This was originally meant for my Collection of Ink Prt. 2 but it just kept growing and growing and well... yeah xp* Hope you enjoyed! Update will happen at some point soon promise! Reviews welcomed!***


	2. Part Two of Two

*****Well here's the other half! Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

**Part Two of Two**

When the upturn-sun peeked from the horizon, Queen Ivan was woken up to the feel of something heavy and hot on him. He opened his eyes to see, not his love's face, but his honey blonde hair. Alfred had managed to crawl on top of Ivan and cuddle up to him, a leg hung out from under the covers, and their hands were still clasped together. Ivan was actually surprised at how mundane this was because, he had expected to be kicked in the face.

As pleasant as it was to find Alfred like this, it was hot and he could feel something wet on his chest, which he assumed was drool. He sighed and ran a hand through Alfred's hair, enjoying how it still felt the same between his fingers. Queen Ivan really didn't have it in him to move just yet, however uncomfortable it may be, and remained under Alfred. He was quite overjoyed at the moment, but it being so early he couldn't express it very well.

' _Today you will get your memories back, I promise Fredya.'_

Ivan felt sure of himself that the trip to Baba's would be successful, since he had been able to do it before. He looked down at Alfred still sleeping on him, then looked over to the door, and to Teddy still sleeping on the floor. He had a small grin cross his face as he took in his surroundings, feeling content. It felt good to have Alfred in his arms again. Queen Ivan moved to look back at Alfred, then leaned down to place a kiss on Alfred's forehead, but just as he got close enough, Alfred shifted. The honey blonde moved his head to shake off the heavy hand, but ended up rubbing his face in the pool of drool. The cold liquid startled Alfred and he woke up with a start, his body flinching, but then relaxed and yawned. He stretched a bit on top of Ivan, and let out a hum as he felt Ivan's hand running through his hair again.

"Good morning Fredya."

Alfred gave a hum at hearing this and moved to roll over, but found he couldn't. He was tangled up in the sheet under the quilted blanket and he was on top of Ivan, which made it difficult as well. The later fact though made him become extremely alert, and he looked up to see Ivan smiling down at him.

"Oh my God."

Alfred instantly tried to get off, but with all his frantic moving he tumbled off the bed and to the floor. Ivan was quick to grab him, but not in a helpful place. He managed to grab his pants, which slipped off as Alfred fell, as well as his underwear, leaving his lower half exposed. Alfred winced from his awkward angle fall, then looked up to see Ivan staring at him with wide eyes. Alfred's own blue ones nearly popped out of his head, as he realized his manhood was out in the open, and he let out a curse as he moved to make his legs fall to the floor. Ivan was so stunned that Alfred's pants just slipped out of his grip, and Alfred quickly scrambled to get his clothes back on. Now with Alfred clothed and seated on the floor, and Ivan still hanging over the edge of the bed; both of them seemed unable to say anything. Ivan was internally struggling to keep his racing heart from popping out of his chest from having seen such a view, and Alfred was internally screaming at how embarrassing everything was.

' _Sure we saw each other naked in the bath, but that was a bath!'_ Alfred declared in his mind.

He looked up to Ivan slightly, and the other just made a soft gasp then sat up on the bed.

"Ah, sorry. I only meant to help you, but it seems that was…. Ineffective."

"I-It's no problem, well, kind of… I…"

Alfred had no idea what to say and neither did Ivan. Thankfully the awkward atmosphere was shoved away as three knocks came to Alfred's door.

"Alfred, Queen Ivan? Breakfast is ready."

Ravis peeked into the room to find the two people he came for staring at him intently.

"Ah, very good. We'll be down in a moment da?"

Ravis arched a brow at the quick answer, then held out a bag.

"Oh, um your clothes arrived Alfred. Toris found the package this morning."

Alfred got off the floor at hearing this, and moved over to the boy to get the bag. He looked inside then pulled out a few bundles of clothing and white boots, which Ivan smiled at seeing.

"This one is your pajamas, this one is your day clothes, and this one is your underclothes. I didn't order much because, I wasn't completely sure of your size, but once you put them on we can get them fitted and order more for you," Ivan said happily.

"O-Oh thanks. I'll go put it on then."

Ivan nodded and Alfred went to step around Teddy to get to the bathroom. Ravis then dismissed himself, and Ivan left as well to get dressed for the day. In the bathroom, Alfred quickly dressed in his day clothes, and pushed the embarrassing incident to the back of his mind. He found the clothes to actually fit quite well, and smiled at how good he looked in them. The pants were black tights with a bright blue line going down the outer seam. They were like his favorite skinny jeans back home, and they were so warm it felt like he had blankets on his legs. The tunic he had was baby blue and white with a small sun of yellow threaded over his left pec. He had a white belt with a gold fastener around his waist on top of the tunic, and after wiping the drool off his face and fixing his hair, he looked hotter than ever.

"My clothes at home got nothing on this," he said happily as he looked himself over in the mirror.

"Alfred, are you ready?" came Ivan's voice through the door.

"Oh, yeah! Just putting the boots on."

The honey blonde quickly shoved his socked feet into each one, and found them to be a little loose, but not bothersome in the slightest. He checked himself over once more and wished he still had his cellphone to take a picture of himself. He had no idea where that thing went to after he somehow managed to get to Whatisthisplace. Even though taking pictures would help make everything more real, he just shrugged his shoulders and left the bathroom. Ivan stood on the other side with Teddy yawning beside him. The lat smiled sleepily at seeing Alfred and wagged her tail.

"You look great! Anything ill-fitting?"

"Just the boots, but nothing major. Just a little loose."

Ivan gave a hum to this then a nod.

"We shall correct this when we leave for Baba's after breakfast. Now let's go eat before we run out of time," Queen Ivan said, and took Alfred's hand.

Alfred allowed himself to be led out of the room, Teddy right on their heels, and down to the main floor to the dining room. When they walked in everyone was already seated and waiting on them.

"I thought you had slept in Vanya," Queen Katyusha said, as she saw her brother and Alfred coming to the table.

"Sorry, there was a mishap this morning, but everything's fine. Alfred's clothes even arrived, and fit him well," Queen Ivan commented.

"Oh my, they do like nice! You looked cute as a button in our clothing when you were young, and now you look absolutely dashing," Queen Katyusha said with a smile.

"Yes, very handsome," Princess Natalia commented.

Alfred just smiled sheepishly at the comments and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Thanks guys."

"Well, let's eat so you two can begin your trip," Katyusha said happily.

Everyone agreed and began to dig into the food before them. Everyone talking as lively as the night before, and as they ate, Ivan recalled a memory of when he first met Alfred and asked:

"How is your brother? I just remembered you spoke of him a lot when you visited."

"My, brother…" Alfred trailed off as he said this.

He could feel that nagging dread at the back of his mind pulling harder and harder as he registered the question. The nagging feeling nearly burst, but was put to a stop as the dining hall doors flung open wider, and a tall muscular man and an elegant curvy women came into the room. Everyone jumped with a start and looked at the two with surprise, but then relaxed as Princess Natalia said:

"Mother, Father, you're back a little timely late."

"Yes, yes, but it's _hard_ to wake up from a _soft_ bed," their father, Elder Dimitri as Alfred recalled from the night before, said with a sly smile on his face as he looked at the woman beside him.

"Father, _please_ ," Queen Ivan said exasperatedly.

"What is the matter my _baby_ Vanya? Do you not like your father enjo—"

"My Gods!" Queen Ivan shouted, and covered his reddening face.

Queen Katyusha was a bit pink herself, while Princess Natalia was unaffected by their parents embarrassing nature.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here," Elder Anya said, as she spotted Alfred at the table.

She came up to him, and Alfred just gave goofy grin as the woman eyed him.

"My Gods! Alfred, my little sunshine?!"

"U-Uh, yeah, I guess," Alfred said with a nervous shrug, and quickly found himself enveloped in a suffocating hug.

"Oh my Gods! It has been so long! Dimitri, Alfred has come back!"

"Fantastic, and this time my beard is long enough to withstand his grabby hands," Dimitri teased as he came over to Alfred.

The teen was released from Elder Anya to be smothered again by Elder Dimitri. It was Ivan that was able to pry the teen from his parents and let him breathe fresh air.

"Father please, he is Alfred, but he doesn't remember his time here. We are going to Baba's once we finish breakfast," Ivan stated.

"Aw, my sunshine has forgotten us, but Baba will surely fix that. Well hurry and eat and we'll see you off," Anya said hopeful and excited.

"Yes, and I can saddle Teddy if you wish to take her with you. Make the trip faster to beat the upturn-moon."

"That would be most helpful Father," Ivan said thankful to the idea idea.

The bearded man gave a smile and headed off to do as he said he would. Elder Anya took her seat as usual in the middle of the table, which was one of the two empty chairs. As soon as she was seated, everyone picked up where they left off in the talking, and Alfred was revived when Ivan waved a sweet smelling roll in his face. The honey blonde snapped right back to his normal self, and ate the roll out of Ivan's hand. The royal laughed at the display and continued to eat himself as Alfred ate. The usual ruckus of meal time was amplified once Elder Dimitri returned and joined them at the table. The talk of embarrassing stories was filling the air nonstop thanks to Ivan's parents. Alfred felt like he'd die of embarrassment as he was told about the many beard stories Dimitri had, and the failed heroic deeds he tried to pull off when he was young. Even though Alfred didn't have his memory, he could still feel the embarrassment from just hearing what his young-self had done.

When breakfast was over everyone followed Queen Ivan and Alfred out to the frosted castle grounds. Teddy was souped-up and ready for them. Ivan got on first then helped Alfred up as well.

"Be wary and safe you two," Elder Anya stated.

"Yes, do come back in one piece Vanya, Alfred," Katyusha pleaded with a smile on her face.

"Don't worry, with Teddy, things will be easy. Goodybye everyone," Ivan said and Alfred waved farewell as Ivan said this.

Ivan steered Teddy around and snapped the reins to make her move on, which made Alfred cling to the man so he wouldn't fall off. The lat went full speed and ran through the frosted queendom with ease. Avoiding the citizens, their homes, and animals was not an issue for the elegant lat as she ran. When they exited the queendom Alfred could feel himself become warmer than before, and understood why he and Ivan forgone coats for this journey. By mid-sun they were crossing wide green and purple fields and passing the Queendom of Silk. A low wall surrounded the queendom and the castle itself was bright red. Alfred remembered thinking it was made of silk at how shiny and delicate it looked, but it seemed to have some wood structure to it.

Once the queendom was passed all that was left were wide fields dotted with trees and humming flowers. Ivan brought Teddy down to a jog as he knew the Areyoukiddingme forest was just beyond the hills far ahead.

"We should be there by aloft-sun, but we might need to camp if we can't make it to Baba's by upturn-moon," Queen Ivan said against the rushing wind.

"Okay."

Alfred still clung to Ivan for dear life as Teddy jogged through the, what he guessed, was the countryside. The trip to the forest was silent only the sound of Teddy breathing and the angelic hums of the flowers filled the air. By aloft-sun Ivan pulled Teddy to a stop and Alfred gaped at the forest before them.

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Yes that's where we are," Ivan said with a smile.

Alfred just paled and looked at Ivan with a face that said, "that is not what I meant". The forest was dense and horrifying. Half the trees were dead, some of them were white, black, or brown with green stripes. Strange ominous noises sounded from within the forest, and only a single path, which had been worn in through time, was present at the edge of the forest. It looked like a nightmare.

"Come, we must get going. Baba lives at the center, but not, of the forest," Ivan stated as he hopped off Teddy.

"What do you mean, like off-center? And why can't we just ride in there?" Alfred asked as Ivan helped him down.

"I guess off-center is correct, and we cannot ride Teddy through, much too dangerous. We must go on foot."

Alfred groaned at hearing this and looked at the ghastly forest, then to Ivan to see him already heading for the path.

"Hey! Don't leave me!" Alfred shouted and quickly took off after him.

The two walked through the forest in silence, which Alfred wished they didn't, but every time he tried to talk Ivan would shush him. As they walked the path worn away into the forest floor, Alfred started to worry they'd get lost. He tried to voice as much, but Ivan still shushed him. They climbed over logs and strange planets, and swatted away cussing insects, but after scrambling over the carcass of a beast blocking their path, Ivan quickly shoved Alfred to the ground and laid on top of him.

"Ssshh," Ivan said then pointed ahead.

Alfred's beet red face moved from getting a face full of dirt to see what Ivan had shoved him over for. In a seemingly harmless spot on the forest floor sat a perfectly yellow, blemish free, banana.

"Ivan that's just a—"

"Ssh," Ivan countered.

"But Ivan—"

Queen Ivan slapped a hand over Alfred's mouth, and the instant he did the banana popped open. Alfred's blue eyes grew wide in horror as the banana seemed to take on the appearance of a spider. The peel was like an outer shell protecting the soft banana parts underneath: legs, head, etc. The banana spider stood still in the forest then moved to look right, then left, then right again, and walked away. When Ivan deemed it safe he uncovered Alfred's mouth who instantly said:

"What the fuck was that!?"

"That was the reason we had to be quite coming in. That is called a Yark. It's very poisonous," Ivan said, as he got off of Alfred's back and stayed crouched down.

Alfred just had a look of horror stuck to his face, and Ivan moved to stand up fully and stand where the Yark had been.

"What are you doing," Alfred asked, as he got off the ground as well and dusted the dirt off as best he could.

"Trying to feel Baba's path."

"Oh, is that re—"

Alfred fell silent mid-speech as he heard something like a high pitched ringing. His bright blue eyes frantically scanned the area around him then froze as he came across the source of the eerie noise. It was a fairy, but not a normal fairy, it wore a red tail coat, with white pants and dainty orange shoes. A scarf of violet was around its neck and tucked into a blue vest that held a pocket watch chain. It's arms were held out with the palms of It's hands upward, and It's left leg was straight as a rod while the other crossed over it like a lowercase t. What was most disturbing about this fairy, besides its pose, eerie ringing, and quick beating wings was that it had the head of an elephant with tusks. The elephant head was unmoving and facing forward with large yellow eyes and orange pupils, and had a top hat of red and blue. Alfred noticed that a ting sound also accompanied it, which was the sound of the sparkles that seemed to float around it, as it sailed passed him. Alfred just stared at it with a disturbed expression on his face, and it grew as the fairy turned to him and made eye contact with one eye. It only stared for a second, before moving on then vanishing in a bright sparkle. (Check out _Samurai Jack elephant fairy video_ , you'll regret it somewhat.)

"Alfred, Alfred are you okay? You look as if you've seen a spirit."

"U-Uh, didn't you see that?! Or at least hear it?!" Alfred asked, as he pointed to where the fairy had vanished.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, but as long as you're okay then everything is fine. Come we must get moving. I have found the path."

Alfred gave a dejected look that he had been the only one to see such a disturbing sight, but followed Ivan nonetheless.

"Alfred I will say this, there are many things in this forest that are dangerous, and if you feel like it is coming for you just stand still and be quite. All insects cuss so you know who and what they are, but if you hear only the beating of wings then it is probably deadly. Anything that is silent in this forest is deadly, or so I believe," Ivan stated as he looked at Alfred following behind. "Besides with Teddy she can smell the danger before I can sense it half the time."

Alfred just gave a noise of understanding, and hoped to god that the elephant fairy wouldn't come after him.

' _It made noise so it had to be harmless, right?'_

The trip through the forest was long and tiring. Alfred had managed to trip over a lot of roots, and lose his boot a few times because of it. Most of his falls were caused by the roots but one of them had been because he spotted the disturbing elephant fairy, who had turned to look at him then vanish.

"I'm sorry Fredya, I forgot about visiting the shop before we left," Ivan said as he helped Alfred up.

"It's alright, I'm just not watching where I step," Alfred said though it was mainly the fairy's fault.

Ivan smiled at Alfred then it grew wider as he heard something similar to a flute being played.

"Chimeflys," Ivan said happily and quickly spotted and pointed out the one he heard.

Alfred followed his pointing finger to see a butterfly on a humming flower flapping It's wings. But the wings were punctured by various holes.

"Chimeflys are harmless, and they make beautiful music when a bunch is gathered," Queen Ivan stated.

Alfred watched the chimefly for a while longer, finding It's music to be soothing, then went back to following Ivan. They walked in silence for a while longer, but then Queen Ivan broke it.

"Ah, we are very close and it is only downturn-sun," he said happily. "Oh at breakfast you never did give me answer Alfred."

"To what?"

"How is your brother? You used to talk about him a lot when you visited," Ivan stated and looked beside him to see Alfred not there.

Alfred stood a little bit behind Ivan with a look of blank surprise, as if he recalled something and wasn't sure to be surprised or enthused by it.

"Alfred?"

"I, I had a brother," Alfred said simply.

The nagging feeling finally snapped within Alfred's mind, and he found himself drowning in the feeling of dread. All his memories from when he was six flooded his mind, and he couldn't handle it. It was like being swept away by a riptide then drug under. Ivan of course couldn't tell any of this, or what was wrong, until Alfred started to cry. His bright blue eyes seem to dull and tears sprang to them. He fell down to his knows as the tears fell, and his hands dug into his blonde hair.

"Alfred! Alfred what is wrong?" Ivan said worriedly as he got over to Alfred and down to his level.

"I-I, I—"

Alfred choked up as he tried to voice his memory gain and his inability to deal with it. He felt like he couldn't move, couldn't even see what was before him, as he recalled everything so clearly. Ivan on the other hand just grew more worried, and quickly picked up Alfred from the forest floor.

"Teddy come here," he commanded.

The lat was quick to be at his side, and lowered herself to allow Ivan to put Alfred on her back, then climbed on himself.

"This will be dangerous, but we must get to Baba now, Teddy. Can I count on you?"

Teddy let out a mewl of sorts and quickly darted off into the forest. Ivan directed her on the path he could feel as he shielded Alfred with his body from whatever they would encounter. The creatures of the forest were tricky, and running through on Teddy was attracting them. Queen Ivan did his best to keep an eye out for them, but it was very difficult to do so. His violet eyes darted this way and that, but all he could hear was Alfred sobbing and asking for whatever was in his head to stop.

"It's okay Alfred. It's okay, I will make it stop. Baba is right there," Ivan said as he held Alfred tighter to his body.

Teddy jumped over a carcass and skidded to a halt as she found herself in a clearing. Just as the downturn-sun started, a house appeared in the clearing. A cabin made of half living logs and purple glass windows. Ivan quickly hopped off Teddy and rushed to the cabin, and just as he stepped foot on the stoop, the door swung open to reveal a long black hallway. Ivan didn't let this disturb him, for he had to be brave for Alfred. He had to get him help from Baba.

"Baba! I come seeking help! My love, he is hurting!" Queen Ivan shouted into the cabin.

Ivan strained his ears to hear a response of any kind as Alfred still wept in his arms. An eerie high pitched ringing started out of nowhere, and in a bright sparkle, a fairy with the head of an elephant appeared. Its lifeless orange and yellow eyes stared at Alfred, then at Ivan, then turned and started to fly into the blackness. Ivan was quick to follow the elephant fairy, but not before commanding Teddy to stay outside.

"Stop, stop, stop," Alfred muttered as he pulled on his hair.

"It will be okay Fredya," Ivan said soothingly as he carried Alfred into the cabin.

The fairy he was following led them through the blackness of the hallway, and soon Ivan found himself standing in a spacious living room. A large clawfoot bathtub stood before a fireplace, and a person in a grey cloak was stirring something within the tub.

"Baba?"

The elephant fairy flew over to the person by the tub, and floated right behind their head. It's eerie ringing and tinning twinkles seemed to get louder as it stayed there, then with a short glance to Ivan it vanished in a bright sparkle.

"You seek me to fix this boy," came a gruff voice.

"Yes, yes, please Baba help me," Queen Ivan begged, as he adjusted Alfred in his arms.

Baba turned and pulled off the hood of their cloak. They had long hair as white as the frosting and a beard to match, red eyes that held centuries of wisdom, and black freckles dusted their pale face. They came over to Ivan and looked him right in the eyes, then down to Alfred, and moved their fingers with grace to take off Alfred's glasses. They opened Alfred's dull reddish-blue eyes, and looked into them. Ever since Alfred started his breakdown he hadn't been able to focus his sight on anything, but as Baba opened and stared into his eyes he could see clearly and felt himself going numb. Everything just seemed to slow down and go comfortably numb.

"He is suffering from memories long since passed. In order to overcome it he must accept it and expel the dread within him," Baba stated.

"Will you do it then? Help him Baba please," Ivan asked with eyes of worry.

"I shall, but you know you have to answer my question before I help. If you get it right I will fix him, if not…Well, he will be forever in pain."

"I'll get it right," Ivan stated confidently.

Baba nodded their head and reached up to the button on their cloak. They undid it and let it fall to reveal a pastel green robe covered in intricate patterns and around their waist was a chain that held a small lantern on the end of it.

"What is my gender at this moment," Baba asked Ivan.

Baba was a person just like Ivan, but magical and full of quarks. They had a thing for being whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, and Baba loved to ask others what their gender was as a riddle of sorts. Sometimes Baba would be a female, male, neither, both, all three, etc., and sometimes it would be easy or impossible to tell what Baba was depending on their mood.

Ivan stared at Baba intently, and after a minute or two of staring at the older person Ivan had his answer.

"Demimale."

Baba had a brilliant smile come to their face and he nodded proudly.

"You always get it right. You still have a good set of senses on you my dear boy. Now let's get your love fixed up."

Ivan nodded and handed Alfred over to Baba, who then held him over the bathtub he had been standing at.

"Alfred. I will drop you and what you see you must accept. Ivan will be able to see what you see if you wish it."

With that said Baba dropped Alfred into the tub and the blonde instantly started to freak-out and thrash, only to find himself breathing and floating in dark blue water-sludge. Alfred looked around to see nothing but dark blue, and then above to see the same. He had no idea what happened but as he floated there he could feel his memories coming back. He tried to fight it, but being in the water-sludge seemed to drain him in a way. He found himself leaning off to the side and soon a bright screen appeared before him. Images started to dance around on the screen and Alfred recognized it be a memory of him and Ivan playing in the frosting of his queendom. Both of them looked so young, Alfred being six and Ivan looking ten or eleven.

"This is a memory."

" _Yes, all your locked away memories need to be accepted,"_ came a faraway voice.

Alfred nodded his head at hearing this, and he could recall what Baba had told him, and about Ivan seeing his memories. The idea of doing that sounded okay with him, comforting even. As another playful memory, this one of Alfred flying on tray with Danny and Emmet, began, on the surface of the tub water the memory appeared for Ivan to see.

Alfred found that as more playful memories shown and accepted, the feeling of dread grew stronger.

" _Do not fight it,"_ came Baba's voice again, they having anticipated the dread approaching.

Alfred only nodded, and as a new memory began he felt his heart break. There on the screen, his twin brother being cared for by the family doctor at their home, while he stood out in the hallway looking into his and his brother's room. Matthew had been the weaker twin, born with a rare heart complication and weak lungs. Alfred had had the issue with weak lungs as well, but he, unlike his twin, had grown out of it. The memory came to an end and Alfred accepted it. Another memory appeared of Alfred telling Matthew all about his time in Whatisthisplace, and his twin looked so excited laid up in a hospital bed. Both of them had wished they could go together, and made a promise to do so when Matthew got better.

The next to appear was of his parents neglecting him for his twin, and then neglecting both of them to argue with each other and go to work. It was a bit of a struggle, but Alfred accepted it as well. As the memories came, they become more and more intense. The neglect turning to abuse, and Matthew becoming weaker and weaker. Above, Ivan and Baba stood looking at the tub seeing the memories, and Ivan gasped as he realized the connections. He knew bad things happened to Alfred when they were young, but Alfred would never tell him. He would always say he just hurt himself on the way down.

As the memories continued, Alfred found himself crying and losing his ability to accept what had happened to him when he was younger. Ivan had to sooth Alfred constantly to get him to accept what happened and to not fear it, which seemed to work quite well...for a while. The one memory, the second to last memory, Alfred had that was burden of everything, the cap in the proverbial bottle, was Alfred and his family driving to Washington state to see his grandmother. Matthew was fast asleep in his booster seat, and Alfred was just staring out the window. Their parents were silent for once, letting the radio fill in the space where they would have been arguing. The road trip seemed tame, but then something smacked into the side of the car, and everything was spinning around and tumbling. Alfred could see his parents moving about limply, his mother only screaming for a short moment. Matthew was still asleep during this and soon Alfred was too. The memory went black then lit back up to show Alfred in a hospital room and his grandmother sitting beside him knitting something. She gave a look of surprise and called for a doctor, before hugging Alfred tightly. When the doctor arrived he explained everything to the six year old Alfred in terms he could understand, and when his grandmother confirmed it; that's when Alfred started to feel dread. His family had died in a car wreck, and only he survived by some sort of miracle.

The memory then disappeared and another quickly took its place. This was a scene of Alfred moving. His house being cleaned out and his things being taken to go to his grandmother's, while everything else went into a storage unit. Alfred sat in his and his twin's room that was practically empty, and he held Matthew's stuffed polar bear. He then got up to find a piece of paper and something to write with, and wrote: _'To: Queen Ivan'_ on it and taped it to the bear. Alfred was then moving to leave out the back of the large house to go into the garden. He walked to the far corner where a few trees grew tall. He worked himself behind a few trees, and found a door about his height within a tree. He opened it and threw the bear inside then closed it.

Once the door was closed the memory ended, and Alfred laid curled up on his side in tears. Above, Ivan stood speechless for he had that bear. It was the last thing he had gotten from Alfred. Emma had been the one to deliver it to him that day, and he had kept it on his bed ever since.

" _If you don't accept this you will never be healed,"_ Baba stated.

Alfred flinched at hearing this and he curled up more.

"H-How can I accept something like this? How can I—I don't want to remember!" Alfred shouted then started to try and swim out of water-sludge, but couldn't.

" _If you don't then you will be in pain for eternity. You will forget everything from then and now. Ivan will no longer be a part of your life in any form. You will never be able to cross through that door anymore."_

This got Alfred's attention, and he found himself giving up and laying out limply in the water-sludge.

' _To never be able to return to this place. To never be able to see Ivan again…'_ Alfred thought, and the instant he tried to imagine it he felt like he got stabbed by a knife. He couldn't fathom not seeing Ivan again after all that happened. After all that they been through, which he found himself thinking of that silly little word again. _'To accept my life for what it is…'_

"Alfred, Fredya, please accept it. I, I know it is a difficult thing to do, but I will be here for you. I can hold you and let you cry as long as you wish like I used to. I'll let you stay as long as you like in my bed until you are better, just please, _please_ don't forget me again," Ivan begged into the tub and prayed his words reached Alfred below.

Alfred felt fresh tears come forth at hearing Ivan's faint voice, and that silly little word seemed to be more and more convincing.

"I-I won't. I won't. I, I accept it. I accept myself."

The moment these words came from Alfred's trembling lips a hand reached out for him and he took it weakly. Baba pulled Alfred out of the tub, and the instant his head broke through the surface of the water, he felt like everything that had ever happened to him was nothing more than a bleak moment. The moments that were good in his life felt like the highlights of his life, and he felt extremely relieved. He found himself falling once Baba set him on the floor, and Ivan was quick to catch him, but both ended up to the floor. As Ivan held Alfred he didn't care about confessing his feelings any longer; he proved his feelings just by grabbing Alfred's face and kissing him deeply.

Alfred nearly had a heart attack from the sudden kiss, but soon found himself melting into it. He moaned softly and kissed Ivan back hungrily, wanting to taste more of him, and finding their kiss to be so sweet and perfect. Never in his life had he kiss someone and feel like he could never get enough of them. The two of them ended up lying out on the floor with Alfred on top as they kissed passionately. The pain that had been stabbing Alfred through and through was no longer present as he was held by Ivan and kissed senseless. By the time they finally stopped for air, a throat was cleared and they both looked up to see Baba smirking at them.

"I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever stop. Young lovers are always so quick to jump each other after a confession," he stated.

Alfred just blushed a deep red, while Ivan turned a bright pink.

"S-So, you um… love me," Alfred asked as he looked to Ivan.

The royal nodded his head.

"And you, love me?"

"Definitely."

The two let out a short breathy laugh, and Baba just rolled their eyes and went to grab something off a shelf.

"Well now that you two have stated your feelings, and Alfred's mind is in order; you must choose."

"Choose?" the two men on the floor inquired.

Baba nodded and held up a pop can that read: _'Fucking Drink It'_ in bold script.

"To love someone from Whatisthisplace is only possible if the love is there too. Alfred, you possess the ability to move between this world and your own through a door. That door has followed you over your lifetime, and you finally rediscovered it after so long. But you must give up that ability in order to love Ivan. You must live here. Ivan cannot go up to your world, but you can come down here," Baba stated and tilted the pop can in his hand. "If you don't choose this however you'll always be restricted to a week in Whatisthiplace whenever you visit."

Alfred frowned at hearing this and looked down at the floor. If he was to live with Ivan then he'd have to leave his job, what little friends he did have, and his grandmother. He was 19 so he could do whatever he wanted in his world, legally that is, and he finished college just a month ago. Alfred found himself looking to Ivan for help and the other just smiled at him.

"Whatever you choose I will support, though I will selfishly say, I'd love for you to be here with me."

Alfred smiled at hearing this and made up his mind.

"Alright, but I want to go back home to get a few things and say goodbye."

"Are you sure Fredya?" Ivan asked, even though he would love Alfred staying he didn't want to take Alfred's life from him.

"It's fine. I did say I wanted to be a queen, though not yours by marriage, but I think that'll change," Alfred said with a smirk.

"Very well," Baba said in understanding, and gave Ivan the can. Baba then moved to a wall and pulled back a curtain to reveal a door. "This will take you home. When you are done just find it where you left it."

Alfred nodded and got off of Ivan and the floor, and headed for the door. Just as his hand touched the knob, Ivan grabbed Alfred's hand and pulled him away. He kissed the other lovingly then let his hand go when the kiss ended.

"Hurry back."

"I'll be back before you can say Whatisthisplace."

Ivan chuckled at hearing that, and watched Alfred open the door to reveal a tunnel of glowing paint. Alfred stepped inside and waved goodbye, before closing the door and setting off. He walked through the tunnel for a while then found the tunnel to get smaller and smaller as he went. He ended up getting down to his knees and eventually army crawling his way up to the exit. He found the door at the end of the tunnel and opened it quickly. He crawled through it and found himself to be sitting in the backyard of his grandmother's house. Her home was a bit out of the way of the city so she was sort of surrounded by the forest that was nearby. Alfred climbed fully out of the tree and when he stood and dusted off his clothes he found himself back in his hoodie, jeans, and sneakers, although he looked like he'd fallen into a hole.

"Alfred! Al—Oh there you are. My, did you fall before you could even leave the property?" came a cheerful voice that Alfred knew to be his grandmother. "Oh well, I came to tell that I need firewood. I remembered I needed it when you said you was going out for walk. I'm glad I caught you before you got too far," she said as she stopped a little short of being up close to Alfred with a basket in hand.

' _That's right, time moves differently in Whatisthisplace. It's like I never left.'_

Alfred found himself smiling brightly, and walked up to his grandmother to get the basket from her hands.

"Hey mom, I'll get the wood, but I gotta tell you something."

  


_**The End** _

* * *

***LOL It was supposed to be a fic for shits and giggles and then it got deep - J - XD Ah, man. Well I hoped you liked it! Hope yall have an awesome winter break and Happy Holidays!***


End file.
